Month: August 2018

Meteorological summer will end as September arrives Saturday morning. This summer will go into the record books as a hot one with highly variable amounts of precipitation. Let’s look at the numbers.

At the YNG airport, rain totals will finish between 3/4″ and 1″ below average. Temperatures will be a little more than 3 degrees above average.

2018 was the warmest summer since 1995, just edging out 2016 and 2005.

Rain totals will end up below average at the airport but some places had a lot more rain. That rainy spot in southeastern Mahoning County is of course due to the deluge that occurred over the course of a few hours a couple of weeks ago.

Notice how northern Trumbull and Mercer look wet? Much of that was earlier in the season. It’s been dry in those locations lately.

In fact that zone is in the “abnormally dry” category on the latest drought monitor.

2018 was the 2nd consecutive summer with below-average rain. This follows a streak of 5 straight wet summers.

Meteorological summer may be ending but I think September will bring a continuation of the very warm pattern. 90 degree temperatures will be possible next week.

It’s time once again for the Canfield Fair, a week that, for many, serves as the unofficial end of the summer season. Of course in late August and early September it’s typically still pretty warm but there have been many exceptions. I looked back at the weather records from 1965-2017 (from official observations at the Youngstown-Warren Airport). Click on each image to enlarge. The warmest fair during that period was in 1973, although 2015 was a close second. 2016 was pretty average and last year was quite comfortable overall. 2017 was the coolest fair since 2010. The coolest overall during this period was in 2006.

THIS YEAR’S FORECAST

The fair will open on a very hot and humid note Wednesday with expected highs near 90. Showers and thunderstorms will threaten by early evening and any storm could be on the strong side.

Don’t walk your dog at the fair Wednesday afternoon. Concrete and asphalt temperatures will be much too hot for our furry friends.

Much cooler and more comfortable air will be here Thursday. Highs will be in the mid 70s with some late-afternoon and evening sunshine. A beautiful evening, in fact. But dewpoints will climb by the weekend. While Saturday-Monday will not be oppressive as the last couple of days, it’ll still be toasty with dewpoints this high.

Overall the days with the lowest weather impacts will be Thursday and Friday. Saturday will be dry but warm and muggy. Our forecast includes a chance for spotty showers and storms Sunday and Monday.